Star Wine List Restaurants in San Francisco

San Francisco has 37 restaurants on this list that appear in Star Wine List, including Benu, Quince and Saison. Star Wine List is an independent guide to wine lists and wine bars. Several venues are in Mission and Chinatown, and many of the restaurants hold Michelin stars.

We choose venues by weighing recognition from independent critics, guides and awards. Browse the entries in alphabetical order. Each shows the venue's town or city, a short description and awards from independent sources, with a link to its full guide page.

How this list is chosen: Every restaurant here is listed by Star Wine List, the independent guide to wine lists and wine bars. When more qualify than the list can hold, En Primeur Club chooses among them by weighing recognition from independent critics, guides and awards. Entries appear in alphabetical order.

A16
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A16 on Chestnut Street has anchored the Marina District's Italian dining scene for two decades, building a reputation around the grapes and traditions of Southern Italy. Its James Beard Award-winning wine list and Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition place it in a distinct tier: serious enough for destination diners, accessible enough for a Tuesday dinner without ceremony.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
Absinthe
San Francisco, United States
One of Hayes Valley's anchoring restaurants, Absinthe has spent two decades shaping the neighbourhood's wine-forward, French-influenced identity. Positioned a short walk from Civic Center, it draws a pre-symphony crowd alongside committed regulars who treat it as a genuine local institution rather than a destination stop. The wine list runs deep, and the kitchen takes ingredient provenance seriously.
Also recognized by Food & Wine, San Francisco Travel, Star Wine List
Acquerello
San Francisco, United States
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Grand Award
Open since 1989, Acquerello holds two Michelin stars and operates from a converted chapel on Sacramento Street, where classical Italian cooking — shaped by French technique — meets one of San Francisco's most serious wine programs. Wine Director Gianpaolo Paterlini oversees a cellar of 15,000 bottles with particular depth in Piedmont, Tuscany, and California. La Liste placed it among the world's top restaurants in both 2025 and 2026.
Also recognized by Bureau du Champagne, USA, James Beard Award, La Liste, Opinionated About Dining
Ama
San Francisco, United States
Ama on Sansome Street brings an Italian-Japanese hybrid format to San Francisco's Financial District, combining the communal, convivial logic of izakaya dining with Italian structural instincts. The result is a counter-friendly, sharing-led room that sits at an intriguing remove from the city's established contemporary tasting-menu tier. For explorers of cross-cultural cooking, it registers as a thoughtful outlier in a city already rich with culinary experimentation.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Angler SF
San Francisco, United States
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A Michelin-starred seafood restaurant on San Francisco's Embarcadero waterfront, Angler operates around a wood-burning hearth and Bay Bridge views that few comparable dining rooms can match. Under Saison Hospitality Group, the kitchen works in concert with a wine program of 2,530 selections and deep Burgundy and California strengths. Ranked #61 in North America by Opinionated About Dining in 2024, it sits at the serious end of the city's contemporary seafood tier.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Robb Report, Star Wine List
Arquet
San Francisco, United States
Arquet occupies a coveted slot inside San Francisco's Ferry Building, bringing wood-fired California cooking to one of the city's most charged food addresses. The format is rooted in seasonal produce and open-fire technique, placing it within a small peer group of Bay Area restaurants that treat the hearth as the organizing principle of the menu. For a meal that tracks the season with precision, this is a reliable address.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Benu
San Francisco, United States
3 Michelin stars
Benu sits in San Francisco's serious tasting-menu tier, using French structure and Chinese-Korean reference points with uncommon technical control. Corey Lee's restaurant has the external validation to match the ambition: No. 12 on Opinionated About Dining's 2026 North America ranking, La Liste recognition, a 2025 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant semifinalist nod, and long-running Michelin three-star status.
Also recognized by AAA, Forbes, James Beard Award, La Liste
Birba
San Francisco, United States
Birba occupies a Grove Street address in San Francisco's Hayes Valley, a neighbourhood that has become a serious reference point for casual-to-ambitious dining in the city.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Birdsong
San Francisco, United States
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Birdsong holds two Michelin stars and a consistent top-60 ranking on Opinionated About Dining's North America list, placing it among San Francisco's most decorated progressive American tables. Chef Chris Bleidorn works a live-fire format at 1085 Mission Street, combining Pacific Northwestern ingredients with technique-driven plating and a wine program of 450 selections weighted toward Burgundy, Oregon, and California.
Also recognized by La Liste, Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List, The Best Chef
Boulevard
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Boulevard has anchored San Francisco's Embarcadero dining scene since the 1990s, pairing California-French cooking with a wine list of 950 selections and 8,000 bottles. Chef Dana Younkin leads the kitchen under founder Nancy Oakes, earning consistent recognition from La Liste and Opinionated About Dining. Dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday at 1 Mission Street, with a $$$-tier menu built for the serious à la carte diner.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, La Liste, Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
Che Fico
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Che Fico is an Italian taverna at 838 Divisadero in San Francisco’s Nopa neighborhood: Italian cooking through a Northern California lens, and a wine list weighted toward Italy and California.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
Copra
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Kerala’s coastal flavors meet San Francisco polish at Copra, where Chef Srijith Gopinathan delivers shareable, spice-driven dishes—like Konkan Crab Curry and Kerala Fried Chicken—in a lush, design-forward room with a savvy wine and cocktail program.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, San Francisco Chronicle, Star Wine List
Cotogna
San Francisco, United States
Cotogna occupies the casual end of the Jackson Square pairing it shares with three-Michelin-star Quince, delivering wood-fired Italian cooking rooted in rustic regional tradition rather than fine-dining architecture. Chef Michael Tusk's trattoria earns consistent Opinionated About Dining recognition alongside a Michelin Plate, making it one of San Francisco's most credentialed neighbourhood Italian rooms at a mid-range price point.
Also recognized by New York Times, Opinionated About Dining, San Francisco Chronicle, Star Wine List
Dalida
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Dalida brings Mediterranean and Turkish cooking to San Francisco's Presidio district, where Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz run a kitchen that earned a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 and landed at number seven on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list in 2023. The wine program, overseen by Wine Director Jerry McGie, draws on a 610-selection list weighted toward France and Italy. Lunch and dinner service makes it one of the more accessible rooms in a city stacked with $$$$ tasting-menu counters.
Also recognized by Esquire, James Beard Award, Opinionated About Dining, San Francisco Chronicle
Delfina Restaurant
San Francisco, United States
Delfina Restaurant on 18th Street has anchored the Mission District's dining identity for decades, earning a White Star recognition on Star Wine List in 2025. The restaurant operates within a neighbourhood known for its Italian-American cooking traditions and a serious approach to wine. It sits in a different tier from the city's tasting-menu circuit, offering a more direct, ingredient-led format.
Also recognized by San Francisco Chronicle, Star Wine List
Equal Parts
San Francisco, United States
Equal Parts on Green Street draws from the coastal kitchens of Mexico City and Tulum, translating their seafood-forward logic into a North Beach setting. The menu's orientation toward ocean-driven ingredients places it in a different register than San Francisco's tasting-menu establishment, offering a more relaxed but still considered alternative to the city's formal dining tier.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Foreign Cinema
San Francisco, United States
A Mission District fixture since 1999, Foreign Cinema projects films onto a courtyard wall while serving Californian cooking under an open sky. Ranked in Opinionated About Dining's North America casual list in both 2024 and 2025, it occupies a rare position: a restaurant where the setting is structural to the meal, not decorative. Weekend brunch and weeknight dinner draw a loyal local following alongside out-of-towners who discovered it through word of mouth.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List, World's Best Wine Lists Awards
Great China
San Francisco, United States
Great China on Bancroft Way holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a ranking on Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual list, placing it among Berkeley's most consistently recognised Chinese restaurants. The menu runs on shared plates anchored by tea-smoked duck, with a wine list weighted toward Burgundy and Riesling that prices noticeably below what the selections would command elsewhere.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
Greens Restaurant
San Francisco, United States
One of San Francisco's most enduring vegetarian restaurants, Greens occupies a converted waterfront warehouse in the Marina district with views across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge. Recognised by Star Wine List with a White Star designation in 2023, it operates in a different register from the city's tasting-menu circuit, placing plant-based cooking inside a serious wine programme and a dining room where the setting does real editorial work.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Harris'
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Harris' on Van Ness has anchored San Francisco's steakhouse tradition for decades, earning a White Star recognition from Star Wine List for its wine program. A fixture for regulars who return for the dining room's consistency and the depth of its cellar, it occupies a different register from the city's tasting-menu circuit — direct, confident, and rooted in a format that predates California's ingredient-first revolution.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Jerry’s Roast Pork
San Francisco, United States
At the second floor of Embarcadero Center, Jerry's Roast Pork occupies a specific lane in San Francisco's lunch counter tradition: Italian-style roast pork sandwiches built for speed, substance, and repetition. It sits at the practical end of a city that also runs some of the country's most decorated tasting-menu rooms, making it a useful reference point for understanding how San Francisco eats across the full register.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Kitchen Istanbul
San Francisco, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A pandemic-era reinvention turned this Clement Street address into one of San Francisco's most talked-about wine destinations. Chef, owner, and sommelier Emrah Kilicoglu repositioned Kitchen Istanbul around a wine-forward format that drew the city's cognoscenti north to the Inner Richmond. The result is a room where Turkish culinary tradition meets serious California wine culture in a way few restaurants in the city attempt.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, San Francisco Chronicle, Star Wine List
Lazy Bear
San Francisco, United States
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Grand Award
Lazy Bear holds two Michelin stars and a La Liste placement in San Francisco's Mission District, running a dinner-party format that seats guests communally across a mezzanine and ground-floor dining room. The cooking draws on nostalgic American reference points, executed with technical precision, and a 10,500-bottle cellar overseen by a James Beard-nominated beverage director operates from a separate facility across the street.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, La Liste, Opinionated About Dining, Robb Report
Mister Jiu’s
San Francisco, United States
1 Michelin star
Mister Jiu's holds a Michelin star and a 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef: California, operating from a historic Chinatown banquet hall on Waverly Place. Chef Brandon Jew reframes Cantonese banquet tradition through seasonal Bay Area produce, positioning the restaurant in San Francisco's top tier of contemporary Chinese-American dining.
Also recognized by Chinese Restaurant Awards, Food & Wine, James Beard Award, New York Times
Nisei
San Francisco, United States
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant on Polk Street, Nisei sits within San Francisco's $$$$ fine-dining tier while reading distinctly apart from the city's more theatrical tasting-menu circuit. Chef David Yoshimura's cooking draws on Japanese technique applied to California ingredients, earning consistent recognition from both Michelin and Opinionated About Dining across multiple years. The wine program runs to 1,455 selections with particular depth in France and California.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List, The Best Chef
Nopa
San Francisco, United States
Nopa has occupied its corner on Divisadero Street for well over a decade, earning a devoted following among San Francisco's wine and restaurant professionals with a wood-fired, seasonally driven New American menu. Ranked by Opinionated About Dining in both its casual and gourmet casual tiers across consecutive years, it represents the mature, neighbourhood-anchored end of California's farm-to-table tradition.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List, World's Best Wine Lists Awards
O' by Claude Le Tohic
San Francisco, United States
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A Michelin-starred French restaurant on the fifth floor of a Union Square hotel, O' by Claude Le Tohic operates in a register that San Francisco's fine dining scene rarely sustains: classically grounded French technique at the summit of the city's price tier, backed by a wine program of 1,265 selections and consistent recognition from Opinionated About Dining's North America rankings since 2023.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
ONE65 Bistro
San Francisco, United States
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
Palm City
San Francisco, United States
Palm City occupies a particular tier in San Francisco's Outer Sunset sandwich scene: the kind of counter where a daily-rotating menu of made-to-order sandos draws a loyal neighborhood following without any of the downtown noise. Positioned at 4055 Irving St, it operates in a different register from the city's $$$$ tasting-menu circuit, offering daytime eating that rewards planning around the rotation.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Prelude
San Francisco, United States
Prelude brings fine-dining ambition to Southern American cuisine at 333 Battery Street in San Francisco's Embarcadero, holding a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025. The format runs from a full tasting menu down to a more approachable à la carte selection, giving the room flexibility that most $$$$ Embarcadero restaurants don't offer. For a city where Southern cooking rarely reaches this price tier, it represents a genuine category shift.
Also recognized by Food & Wine, Star Wine List
Quince
San Francisco, United States
3 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Quince sits in San Francisco’s Jackson Square at the formal end of the city’s Italian-Californian dining spectrum, with three Michelin stars, a Michelin Green Star, and deep farm sourcing behind the polish. Michael Tusk’s kitchen uses Northern Italian structure rather than red-sauce nostalgia, placing pasta, produce, and cellar depth in a conversation with Bay Area seasonality.
Also recognized by Esquire, Forbes, James Beard Award, La Liste
Saison
San Francisco, United States
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Grand Award
Saison belongs to the Bay Area's serious farm-to-table lineage, but its vocabulary is fire, coastal sourcing, and a dining room built around the kitchen rather than separated from it. Richard Lee's current era keeps the restaurant in San Francisco's high-end Progressive American conversation, backed by OAD, La Liste, James Beard, Relais & Châteaux, AAA, and World's 50 Best recognition.
Also recognized by AAA, Forbes, James Beard Award, La Liste
Sons & Daughters
San Francisco, United States
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Sons & Daughters holds two Michelin stars and draws from new Nordic principles to frame the abundant produce of Northern California inside a focused tasting menu format. Chef Harrison Cheney leads a kitchen where Scandinavian restraint and seasonal sourcing meet California's ingredient depth. The Mission District address and a 630-selection wine list anchored in Burgundy, France, California, and Italy complete the picture.
Also recognized by Forbes, James Beard Award, La Liste, Opinionated About Dining
SPQR
San Francisco, United States
SPQR on Fillmore Street is one of San Francisco's most consistent Italian addresses, holding a Michelin Plate and multiple Opinionated About Dining rankings under chef Matthew Accarrino. The kitchen works within Northern Italian tradition while the wine program earned a Star Wine List White Star in 2022. Dinner runs Wednesday through Sunday, with weekend brunch rounding out the week.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List, World's Best Wine Lists Awards
The Morris
San Francisco, United States
A Mission District fixture drawing consistent recognition from Michelin and Opinionated About Dining, The Morris pairs a sommelier-led wine program with comfort-forward New American cooking. Smoked duck aged four days and a housemade charcuterie program anchor the menu, while the drink list reflects two decades of Bay Area beverage expertise. Open Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 2501 Mariposa St.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, New York Times, Opinionated About Dining, Star Wine List
The Progress
San Francisco, United States
1 Michelin star
The Progress on Fillmore Street earns its Michelin star through a whole-animal, whole-vegetable approach rooted in California's seasonal abundance, with smoke, fire, curing, and fermentation doing the heavy lifting. Sister restaurant to State Bird Provisions, it occupies a tier of San Francisco dining where the cooking is genuinely regional rather than globally referential..
Also recognized by James Beard Award, New York Times, OpenTable, Opinionated About Dining
Verjus
San Francisco, United States
Verjus is Michael and Lindsay Tusk's French-leaning wine bar in Jackson Square, reopened in late 2024 after a pandemic closure. The Michelin Plate-recognised room sits a short walk from their flagship Quince, offering grower Champagne, bistro classics, and a deliberately grown-up atmosphere in one of San Francisco's most characterful neighbourhoods.
Also recognized by New York Times, Opinionated About Dining, San Francisco Chronicle, Star Wine List

More lists